Friday, April 27, 2012

That's why this slice of happiness sneaked in for the monthly Hero Arts challenge before the deadline.

And to the new challenge (couldn't even begin to get my head around the last one!) at CASual Fridays.

And there's an Emboss Resist challenge/blog hop at Blockhead Stamps. Check out the tutorial Colleen D. did here. And if you scroll down you will find the link to Blockhead and the challenge info.

Used my WMS doily to create a sun image. IMO at least.

Folded yellow CS and die cut card base being careful to place the die above the fold so that the top would remain folded. Duh. Die cut white top piece and the window out of it then stamped the flowers and message. Strange place for a button? Three guesses and the first two don't count.
A smudge.

Attached the image to the card base and the white panel with foam adhesive. That's it for now. It will become either a birthday or get well card when it grows up :)

First off, a couple shots of the purple in my garden. Bear with me, I'm only a wannabe photographer. BTW, that yellowness behind the iris? A healthy crop of dandelions. One disadvantage to living across from an open field. And one reason we laid sod instead of seeding our backyard last weekend!

Negrita

Queen of the Night

So, purple on the mind, I must admit this was too good to be true. My last card was for DD's friend for her confirmation. She informed me she needed another one for another girl in her class and this girl is "purple". And gray.

What I love about this inspiration photo are the flowers at the bottom - straight from the farmer's market - and the boldness of the colors combined with the stark white in the top two photos.

So, I made flowers out of various purples combined with a lotta white.

Die cut the flower layers PP, recycled security envelopes and old dictionary. Used a stylus to make a "bowl" in center of each
layer. Used a scoring tool to curl some petal edges under. Inked edges.
Assembled flower and added brad to center. Stamped large flourish on card base
and added a die cut border strip to ground the embellies. Attached large flower
with foam tape.

Punched a coordinating center for small flower and added
girlfriend's initial to it. Added some shimmery watercolors to the butterfly
colored with colored pencils and attached. Spritzed with some Perfect Pearls.
Stamped the "glückwunsch" (congratulations) sentiment inside.

Catch the shimmer?

Because it's Anything Goes over at Simon Says Stamp, I'm going there. This week there's even a chance to win some Paper Smooches stamps!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Another episode of DIY embellishments - this time from the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die. Had confirmation cards to make for DD's girlfriends. I chose the flower theme. DD chose the color for this one - beige.

OK, that's cool. Been hoping to play with CR84FN and here's my chance.

BTW - I know I saw a macaroon stamp out in blogland but I can't find it again. I think it was actually French. Anyone have a tip? Anyway, no macaroons for confirmation. Just purty blooms.

Die cut the flower layers. Used a stylus to make a "bowl" in center of each layer. Used a scoring tool to curl some petal edges under. Inked edges. Assembled flower and added brad to center. Stamped large flourish on card base and added a die cut border strip to ground the embellies. Attached large flower with foam tape.

Punched a coordinating center for small flower and added girlfriend's initial to it. Added some shimmery watercolors to the butterfly left over from an old project, inked edges and attached. Spritzed with some Perfect Pearls. Stamped the "glückwunsch" (congratulations) sentiment and frame from this set on the inside.

And since I received my new stamps (yep, sucked up and paid postage from the US - it wasn't so bad actually), decided to have a go at the sketch challenge at The Craft's Meow.

Took liberties (again) but hey there's a line across the top and a bow and some buttons pearls and a sentiment...

Stamped the hexagon BG and the stitching across the top. Die cut the flutterbys from CS and embossed them. Opted for the iridescent pearls. When I pulled out my pink ribbon scrap box these fabric scrap strips jumped out at me. IRL the touch of green does wonders for the card, so I bunched them up into a bow. Attached the flutterbys and stamped their tails (would recommend the reverse order ;) and voila.

This is off to my folks' neighbor who's not feeling well. And she loves her flowers. Bet she'll enjoy.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

This is what I see out my kitchen window. Purple and yellow pansies in my neighbor's flower boxes. This is pretty typical in Germany. Between the pine tree branch arrangements of winter and the geraniums of summer, lots of folks turn to pansies.

No wonder that they caught my eye. My card for Opposites Attract at CASual Fridays used these colors.

Got out the alcohol inks and applicator tool and played on acetate. Some yellow splotches. Some purple splotches. Teensy bit of mixative. Some black StazOn stamen. A white sqare card base. A couple glue dots strategically placed. A strip of CS stamped with a great HA sentiment. A few more flowers on the inside. (Those teensy stamps HA is kind enough to include on sentiment sets are great for this.) Some twine and buttons and voila.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Watercolor butterfly in some way. Or so I thought until I looked closer at the Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World. Those "lines" down the sides of the dress from See by Chloe are actually ties made from the same fabric and woven crisscross through eyelets!

So that was the road my creative process took me. Weave twine through eyelets and use a watercolor butterfly. But as I thought about the "ties from the same fabric" I remembered an oh-so-cool card from Alicia T. in the Moxie Fab Paper Scraps challenge, with a butterfly made from strips of scraps. And then I thought of the scrap paper I stamp off on and save, always thinking I'll be able to do something with it. It's kinda artsy fartsy.

So looking at Alicia's card I figured the "scraps" had been strips of paper. So I cut a few and bent them - and they didn't look like a butterfly. Hmmm.

Now spatial thinking has never been my forte. Just give me a story problem about a house with the dimensions X and a roof with the angle Y and you'll raise my blood pressure! Figured it must have to do with straight lines versus curves...

So, what if I took an oval outline. Nope. Maybe a circle. Yep. Ended up using my circle scissor to cut a 2 3/4" circle and then a 3 3/8" circle around the negative space to get a circle outline that I snipped at one spot and bent into shape to make one side of Miss Flutterby.

Same process for her other side and glue dots to hold them together. Recreated the crisscross effect I originally wanted to go with by embossing (sideways) a portion of my card. Distress inked the edges and swiped a little Worn Lipstick and Tea Dye over some of the raised Xs. Mounted the butterfly on a circle cut from some recycled packaging so she could be resting on a dahlia. Distressed its edges too. Finished the butterfly with a threaded button (left the thread long like antennaes) and added a couple pearls.

A somewhat different take on the Trigger, but I'm so happy I figured out how to make Miss Flutterby. Wouldn't she be cute decorating a gift?

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Task at hand was to make a card for DD's friend whose dog has gone to doggie heaven. Had no ideas until I saw the newest Runway Inspired Challenge photo. Coupled it with the latest Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge and this is what happened.

Certainly not CAS but there's a ton of inspiration here so I'm gonna tell ya about it. I think you can see the sketch elements. Used a WMS sentiment stamp from French Country and a teeny weeny doily from Large Doilies for the sentiment "banner" near the top.

As for the RIC. Chose the BG from Clear and Simple cuz it has the "V" look to it but also a bit of texture - more than just chevron - which is how I saw the blouse in the photo. Stamped strip in orange twice and then gray once, similar to the proportions in the photo. Gold embossed cuz how rockin' is that gold skirt (not that you'd ever see me in it!) Wanted to capture the matt and shiny black of the model's hose and shoes. Thus the Hero arts Envelope Pattern BG and the big shiny button. Added a big of orange netting for a fabric-y touch. Lastly, the die cut strip up the left side captures the sheerness of the blouse. Whew.

Now to poor Jessy. Have this ancient stamp which actually looks a bit like Jessy (bearded collie). Mounted her on a rosette and gave her some feathers as angel wings. Painted a "J" bead and let it dangle with another button at the top. Added a few ribbons and felted yarn through the tag hole.

Love my new Waltzingmouse BG stamp. Heat embossed the green and pink images and cut strips. Stamped the yellow directly onto cardbase. Notice the wider yellow and white strips? I'm happy with the result, but just want to tell you that there was no brilliant design involved here. Just don't own yellow embossing powder. Figured I could stamp directly onto the cardbase. Was too lazy to mask off. Figured since the yellow was the lighter color, it would be OK if the strip was wider. Cut the woodgrain embossed strip a bit wider too and voila. I'm happy.

Saw a DIY crepe paper flower in the new issue of Paper Crafts. Totally my style. One button and one stamped leaf later my card was done.

Numero Uno's also parking over at Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes. Who wouldn't love to be the random winner from 1000 entries!

Took these colors from the inspiration photo and a PS sentiment stamp. That blingy crown is about all the bling you're gonna get from me. And it's one layer and I doodled.

To doodle, I needed to pick a stamp that had a lot of open space. Thus Mr. Toad. Knew I wanted to use this embossing folder for a bit of interest so I lined up where Mr. Toad should be stamped. Stamped him in navy blue. Doodled. (Used to doodle up all the margins of my notebooks in high school and college. Mostly hearts and guys' initials. Typical, eh?) Dry embossed. Stamped the sentiment and heat embossed the crown. Added bling. Rounded corners.

Since most of my cards are mailed, I'm into reducing bulk. Cut a piece of light blue CS about the same size as my card front, adding a half inch to the left side. Scored and folded the half inch. Rounded corners here too and attached card front to half inch strip of card back. Left a tiny bit of light blue peeking out on the right and left sides. Capisce?

Monday, April 16, 2012

I'm into recycling. (Probably cuz I have a guilty conscience about all the crafting goodies I buy!) But also cuz we're really into it here in Germany. And it IS a good thing!

So, I like the Lessology blog. Do you know them? If you like recycling (or should I say upcycling) and crafting you should.

Their current challenge is called "Chest of drawers".

Then there's this gorgeous color combo over at Alley Way Stamps. Finally decided to play along.

I took me some liberties... It's a card.

Chest of drawers? Check. Using recycled item? Check (see the packing paper turned into granny's wallpaper? see the plastic neon beads turned into drawer handles? see the bandana scrap turned into granny's rug? even the sentiment is stamped on a scalloped square die cut out of a tissue box. did I mention I like to recycle? Using at least one Alley Way Stamp? Check (see the cute little ladybug perched on top of the dresser? she's a free digi from the store)

I recently discovered the challenges at Coredinations. Love their CS. Colored core. The current challenge was actually my starting point for this project I think. I'm not actually sure if it's a challenge. Their website is quite confusing... Anyway, cool photo. Gotta love Anthropologie.

Used my Coredinations whitewashed CS to create the drawers. Sanded the edges to bring the color out.

And to give credit where credit's due... check out JJ's modern and fab card to see why I decided I could actually come up with something for Lessology's theme! Cuz I'd love to win me some "chicken soup is good for the soul" stamps :)

Immediately thought of a sketchy heart stamp I have to reproduce the "broken" heart, but when I pulled it out I discovered that it was way too big for this sketch. Solved that problem by punching a heart out of a Post It, laying the negative onto a portion of the stamp, inking the stamp through the mask with Versamark and then stamping the "smaller" heart onto CS before heat embossing.

As they say in German, this was a "schwere Geburt". Had a completely different idea in mind. Wanted to use my pretty new digi papers from Pink Petticoat. Not really like this. But...

This was the photo inspiration. There is always so much yumminess in Jay Gee's photo collages.

Maybe that was my dilemma. Too much on the buffet to choose from. Was going to stack the birdies (again) like the cake. Was too boring. Added a couple brighter colors like the mobiles. Naa. Briefly considered the chevrons then realized that I didn't buy any!

Picking up on the rolls of polka dot paper I stamped and embossed a distressed circle BG but couldn't make that work either. Note to self: make it work for another card.

So, I figured out that I really liked the purpley hydrangea paper and the pink bird I had die cut from hydrangea paper too. Decided I wanted to do the partial circle negative and let the paper peek through. Deciding to stick with a good thing, I printed out some yellow and cut another birdie. (Tip: Don't let DH catch whiff of digi papers. He can "handle" the packages arriving at the house, but he ain't so happy about empty printer cartridges.)

The plain white CS wasn't doing it. Grabbed my embossing folders and lo and behold this one looks like what, hydrangeas, if you look at it right!

Knew I wanted this "birdy" sentiment, but where? And what to do about balance? My solution.

Don't have the showers here, but lots of April flowers. Therefore this is parking in the huge lot of entries for the current Simon Says Stamp Challenge.